According to a report from Reuters citing sources, Samsung Electronics, the global leading manufacturer of smartphones, TVs, and memory, is said to be cutting up to 30% of its overseas workforce in certain departments.

Per the same report, sources revealed that Samsung has instructed its global subsidiaries to reduce sales and marketing staff by around 15% and management personnel by as much as 30%. The plan, set to be implemented by the end of this year, will affect jobs across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Additionally, other industry sources reportedly confirmed Samsung’s global layoff plan as well. However, details about the extent of the layoffs remain confidential, making it unclear how many employees will be affected and which countries or business units will be hit the hardest.

Amid these rumored layoffs, Samsung is grappling with increasing pressure on its key departments. In May, the company replaced the head of its semiconductor division to tackle the ongoing chip crisis, as it strives to catch up with competitor SK hynix in supplying high-end memory used in AI chipsets.

In the premium smartphone market, Samsung faces fierce competition from Apple and China’s Huawei, while it has also lagged behind TSMC in chip manufacturing.

A source pointed out that the layoffs are aimed at addressing the slowdown in global tech product demand due to the global economic downturn. Another source, however, mentioned that Samsung is looking to boost profits by cutting costs.

Per Reuters, Samsung has noted in a statement, claiming that some workforce adjustments in its overseas operations are routine measures aimed at improving efficiency. The company stated that these plans do not have specific targets and added that production staff would not be affected.

According to Samsung’s 2024 sustainability report, as of the end of 2023, the company employed 267,860 people, with over half (147,104 employees) located overseas. The report indicated that the majority of jobs were in manufacturing and development, with 25,136 employees in sales and marketing, and 27,887 in other areas.

Other sources cited by Reuters revealed that the global directive for layoffs was issued about three weeks ago. Samsung’s India operations have already offered severance packages to some mid-level employees who have left in recent weeks, with the total number of employees expected to leave the Indian subsidiary potentially reaching 1,000.

Samsung employs around 25,000 people in India, where the company generates an annual revenue of approximately USD 12 billion. Wage strikes are currently disrupting production in the country.

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(Photo credit: Samsung)

After its 8-Hi HBM3e entered mass production in February, Micron officially introduced the 12-Hi HBM3e memory stacks on Monday, which features a 36 GB capacity, according to a report by Tom’s Hardware. The new products are designed for cutting-edge processors used in AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads, including NVIDIA’s H200 and B100/B200 GPUs.

It is worth noting that the achievement has made the US memory chip giant almost on the same page with the current HBM leader, SK hynix. Citing Justin Kim, president and head of the company’s AI Infra division at SEMICON Taiwan last week, another report by Reuters notes that SK hynix is set to begin mass production of its 12-Hi HBM3e chips by the end of this month.

Samsung, on the other hand, is said to have completed NVIDIA’s quality test for the shipment of 8-Hi HBM3e memory, while the company is still working on the verification of its 12-Hi HBM3e.

Micron’s 12-Hi HBM3e memory stacks, according to Tom’s Hardware, feature a 36GB capacity, a 50% increase over the previous 8-Hi models, which had 24GB. This expanded capacity enables data centers to handle larger AI models, such as Meta AI’s Llama 2, with up to 70 billion parameters on a single processor. In addition, this capability reduces the need for frequent CPU offloading and minimizes communication delays between GPUs, resulting in faster data processing.

According to Tom’s Hardware, in terms of performance, Micron’s 12-Hi HBM3e stacks deliver over 1.2 TB/s. Despite offering 50% more memory capacity than competing products, Micron’s HBM3e consumes less power than the 8-Hi HBM3e stacks.

Regarding the future roadmap of HBM, Micron is said to be working on its next-generation memory solutions, including HBM4 and HBM4e. These upcoming memory technologies are set to further enhance performance, solidifying Micron’s position as a leader in addressing the increasing demand for advanced memory in AI processors, such as NVIDIA’s GPUs built on the Blackwell and Rubin architectures, the report states.

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(Photo credit: Micron)

According to a report from Korean media ZDNet Korea, Chinese memory manufacturers like CXMT (Changxin Memory Technologies) are aggressively expanding production, which could negatively affect profitability in the traditional DRAM market. Both Samsung and SK hynix are said to be closely monitoring these developments.

Established in 2016, CXMT has become China’s largest DRAM producer with government backing, focusing on traditional DRAM and preparing to enter the HBM market.

Reportedly, CXMT has rapidly increased its DRAM production capacity, from 70,000 wafers per month in 2022 to 120,000 in 2023, and is projected to reach 200,000 wafers this year.

CXMT’s main products include 17nm and 18nm DDR4 and LPDDR4, with its latest offerings being 12nm DDR5 and LPDDR5X, which the company is also developing. Its aggressive DRAM expansion could negatively impact sales and profits for Korean memory manufacturers.

According to TrendForce’s data, the spot price of 16Gb DDR4 increased from $3 in the second half of 2023 to $3.50 in the first half of this year, before falling back to $3.30 in the second half of 2024.

For DDR5, prices have increased from $4.20 in October 2023 to over $4.50 in the first half of this year, approaching $5 in the second half.

By the end of August, the price premium of DDR5 over DDR4 had surged to 53.9%, up significantly from 36.9% six months earlier.

Per a recent report from Nomura Securities cited by ZDNet Korea, the rapid expansion of Chinese companies is expected to negatively impact the memory industry’s profitability, necessitating preparations for potential disruptions. CXMT’s production now accounts for about 5% of the market, potentially influencing prices.

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(Photo credit: CXMT)

No eternal allies. No perpetual enemies. The old proverb seems so true when it comes to the semiconductor industry, when the world’s top foundry, TSMC, announced the collaboration with its rival Samsung, the second largest foundry globally, on the development of HBM4, according to the reports by Korean media outlets the Korea Economic Daily and Business Korea. According to analysts cited by the Korea Economic Daily, it would mark their first partnership in the AI chip sector.

Citing the remarks of Lee Jung-bae, Head of the Memory Business Division at Samsung Electronics at SEMICON Taiwan, the reports note that in order to advance in HBM, Samsung is preparing over 20 customized solutions in collaboration with various foundry partners. However, Lee declined to comment on which specific foundry they were partnering with.

The answer has been revealed when on September 5^th, Dan Kochpatcharin, Head of Ecosystem and Alliance Management at TSMC, confirmed that the two companies are working together on developing a buffer-less HBM4 chip.

According to Business Korea, buffer-less HBM is a product that eliminates the buffer used to prevent electrical issues and manage voltage distribution, which Samsung targets to introduce with HBM4. The innovation is expected to enhance power efficiency by 40% and reduce latency by 10% compared to existing models.

The reports note that the main consideration Samsung chooses to team up with TSMC would be the attempt to incorporate customized features requested by major clients like NVIDIA and Google.

Although Samsung can offer a full range of HBM4 services, including memory production, foundry, and advanced packaging, the company aims to utilize TSMC’s technology to attract more clients, according to sources cited by the reports.

The manufacturing process for HBM4 differs from previous generations, with the logic die, the component that functions as the brain of an HBM chip, may now be produced by foundry companies rather than memory manufacturers.

Earlier in April, SK hynix, the current HBM leader as well as Samsung’s biggest rival on memory, announced the partnership with TSMC on HBM4 development and next-generation packaging technology.

Though months later than SK hynix and Micron, Samsung’s 8-layer HBM3e has reportedly started shipments to NVIDIA. It targets to gain a competitive edge with its rival in HBM4, eyeing to enter mass production by late 2025.

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• [News] Samsung Signals Will to Collaborate with Other Foundries on Basedie
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(Photo credit: Samsung)

At the SEMICON Taiwan 2024, Samsung’s Head of Memory Business, Jung Bae Lee, stated that as the industry enters the HBM4 era, collaboration between memory makers, foundries, and customers is becoming increasingly crucial.

Reportedly, Samsung is prepared with turnkey solutions while maintaining flexibility, allowing customers to design their own basedie (foundation die) and not restricting production to Samsung’s foundries.

As per anue, Samsung will actively collaborate with others, with speculation suggesting this may involve outsourcing orders to TSMC.

Citing sources, anue reported that SK hynix has signed a memorandum of understanding with TSMC in response to changes in the HBM4 architecture. TSMC will handle the production of SK hynix’s basedie using its 12nm process.

This move helps SK hynix maintain its leadership while also ensuring a close relationship with NVIDIA.

Jung Bae Lee further noted that in the AI era, memory faces challenges of high performance and low energy consumption, such as increasing I/O counts and faster transmission speeds. One solution is to outsource the basedie to foundries using logic processes, then integrate it with memory through Through-Silicon Via (TSV) technology to create customized HBM.

Lee anticipates that this shift will occur after HBM4, signifying increasingly close collaboration between memory makers, foundries, and customers. With Samsung’s expertise in both memory and foundry services, the company is prepared with turnkey solutions, offering customers end-to-end production services.

Still, Jung Bae Lee emphasized that Samsung’s memory division has also developed an IP solution for basedie, enabling customers to design their own chips. Samsung is committed to providing flexible foundry services, with future collaborations not limited to Samsung’s foundries, and plans to actively partner with others to drive industry transformation.

Reportedly, Samsung is optimistic about the HBM market, projecting it to reach 1.6 billion Gb this year—double the combined figure from 2016 to 2023—highlighting HBM’s explosive growth.

Address the matter, TrendForce further notes that for the HBM4 generation base die, SK hynix plans to use TSMC’s 12nm and 5nm foundry services. Meanwhile, Samsung will employ its own 4nm foundry, and Micron is expected to produce in-house using a planar process. These plans are largely finalized.

For the HBM4e generation, TrendForce anticipates that both Samsung and Micron will be more inclined to outsource the production of their base dies to TSMC. This shift is primarily driven by the need to boost chip performance and support custom designs, making further process miniaturization more critical.

Moreover, the increased integration of CoWoS packaging with HBM further strengthens TSMC’s position as it is the main provider of CoWoS services.

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(Photo credit: TechNews)